1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to shooting ranges and in particular it relates to apparatus for checking, recording and storing target shot pattern data for weapons and ammunition.
2. Background of the Invention
Shooting or target ranges are used by individuals, manufacturer's, law enforcement agencies, and others to check shot patterns of weapons such as rifles or pistols and the shot pattern of ammunition.
The target ranges have a target that is placed at a known distance from a shooter. The length of the range will vary depending on the need of the user. An individual firing a pistol would be interested in a distance of approximately 25 yards, while an individual firing a high powered rifle would be interested in distances in the range of 100 yards.
The targets are generally of a heavy paper or similar material and most often have a pattern or image imprinted on them. The image may be a square, a circle, a triangle or other shape such as a profile of an animal. The pattern or image provides a reference position on the target.
The shooter aims a weapon, such as a rifle, pistol, bow or crossbow at the image on the target and fires the weapon. By firing several rounds, a pattern commonly referred to as the shot pattern, is created on the target by the bullets or arrows piercing the target.
Most target ranges have facilities built into each range for moving the paper target from the area of a shooter to the opposite end of the range where the target chamber is located. Generally an overhead track with a carrier that a target is clipped to is provided. This allows the shooter to remotely position the target and to retrieve the target after the weapon has been fired to check the resulting shot pattern on the target. This is a safe method, but it is slow, especially when shooting on the longer ranges that are of 75 to 100 yards or more in length.
Most, except for the manufacturer's, are interested in the shot pattern on the target to check the skill of the shooter, to sight in a scope equipped weapon or for practice. Manufacturer's on the other hand, are interested in a weapon's accuracy or the repetitive pattern of ammunition.
Manufacturer's desire permanent records of the shot pattern relating to individual weapons and to batches of ammunition tested. This requires recording information on the individual target or attaching an information sheet to the target detailing items such as serial number, date, shooter, ammunition fired, range, size of pattern and other information that may be pertinent. This recorded information then is filed for future reference. In some cases, the data must be included with the shipment of the weapon. This requires duplication of the records. Similar records are maintained for the shot patterns of tested ammunition.